Support for fire-pails and the like.



A. B. COLLETTE.

SUPPORT FOR FIRE PAILS AND THE LIKE.

Patented Jul 11, 1916.

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SUPPORT FOR FIRE PAlLS AND THE LIKE.

APPLICATION FILED MAR, l9, 9&5.

Patented J uly 11, 1916.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

AUSTIN B. COLLETTE, 0E EVERETT, MASSACHUSETTS.

SUPPORT FOR FIRE-FAILS AND THE LIKE.

Application filed March 19, 1915.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, AUSTIN B. CoLLEr'rE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Everett, in the county of Middlesex and State of Massachusetts, have invented new and useful Improvements in Supports for Fire-Pails and the like, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in indicating supports for fire pails and the like and has for its object to provide a simple, inexpensive and durable device adapted to suppo fire pails and to indicate the condition of the liquid therein, that is tosay, whether said pail is empty, partially filled or full of liquid.

Another object of the invention is to provide means for adjusting the indicating instrumentalities relatively to each other.

The invention consists in the combination and arrangement of parts whereby the above objects and certain other objects may be attained, as set forth in the following specification and particularly pointed out in the claims.

Referring to the drawings: Figure 1 is a side elevation of a device embodying my invention with a pail shown attached thereto in dotted lines. Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the device. Fig. 3 is a section taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a front elevation of a somewhat modified form of the device. Fig. 5 is a plan view of the device illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2.

Like numerals refer to like parts throughout the several views of the drawings.

In the drawings, 6 is a support which may be of any suitable design, although the preferable construction is of triangular formation, provision being made therein for screws 7, 7 by means of which the device may be attached to any suitable support. A resilient member 8 constituting a hook is secured at one end thereof to said support 6 preferably within a boss 9 disposed laterally with respect to said support. A portion 10 of said-resilient member extends outwardly to a substantial distance from the support 6 and is bent at 11 backward upon itself to form an inwardly projecting portion 12, which is preferably arranged above the por tion 10. A depression 13 is provided in the portion 12 adjacent the bend 11 and is adapted to receive the bail 14 of the receptacle or pail 15 and thus properly position said receptacle adjacent the end of the hook 8.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 11, 1916.

Serial No. 15,538.

The inner extremity of the portion 12 of said hook is left substantially free and is constructed and arranged to project through a slot 16 formed in a plate 17, which slot is adapted to limit the deflection of the end of said member 12. The upper portion 18 of the plate 17 is preferably segmental in shape and is provided upon its face with differentiating characters 19, 19 indicating the extent of the deflection of the portion 12 of the hook 8, or in other words indicating the condition of the liquid within the pail as to whether it is empty, partially filled or full, the words empty and full being preferably shown in connection with their respective characters.

Cooperating with the indicating characters of the plate 17 is an indicator hand 20 which is preferably pivoted at 21 to the rear side of the plate 17. The axis of said hand is preferably substantially in alinement with the axis of the portion 12 of said hook. The hand extends from said pivot upwardly through a segmental slot 22 and in front of the segmental portion 18 of said plate.

The portion 12 of the resilient member 8 is preferably bent or offset at a point adjacent to the depression 13 so as to bring the extremity 2-1 thereof to one side of the axis of the hand 20, said offset being shown in Figs. 2 and 4, while the extent of the offset, that is, the distance between the center of the axis 20 of the indicator hand and the free end 24 of said resilient arm 12 is clearly shown in Fig. 3. The hand 20 is also provided adjacent its pivot with a slotted member 23, which slot is adapted to receive the free end 24: of the portion 12 of said hook and as said portion 1s deflected by the varying weight of the pail 15, the hand 20 will be vibrated or swung about its axis to indicate the condition or weight of the liquid in said pail, while the slot 16 in the plate 17 determines the extent to which the hand may be moved from one extreme to the other.

It is sometimes necessary to vary or reposition the slot 16 relatively to the axis of the indicator hand 20 by reason of the change in-form of the resilient member 8. Therefore as a preferred method of accomplishing such an adjustment the plate 17 has been secured to the support 6 by two screws 25,25 arranged upon opposite sides of the pivot 21 of said hand and extending through segmental slots 26, the axes of the arcs thereof coinciding with the axis of the pivot 21. The screws 25 preferably engage bosses 27 formed upon the support (3.

It is desirable that the deflection of the resilient member 8 be entirely confined to the portion 12 thereof and in order that this may be insured the portion 10 of said member is constructed preferably of a tube of larger diameter and more rigid. than the member 12, said tube being attached to the boss 9 at its inner end and extending substantially to the bend 11 of the resilient member 8.

The operation of the device will be evident. The pail or receptacle is placed upon the hook with its bail or handle resting within the depression 13. If the pail is filled with liquid the portion 12 of the resilient member 8 will be deflected and the free end 24 thereof moved to the bottom of the slot 16, thereby causing the hand 20 to be rocked about its pivot 21 from the position shown in Fig. 2, which indicates the empty condition of the pail until the hand registers with the opposite differentiating character 19 over the word full. As the liquid in said pail begins to evaporate the hand 20 gradually returns to the empty position and will indicate at a glance, without looking into the pail, just the condition of the liquid therein.

Although the preferred adaptation of the invention is as hereinbefore shown to holders or hooks for fire pails and the like, the invention is not essentially confined or limited to such a use, but may, if desired, be used as scales and such an application of the device is shown in Fig. l. In this figure the construction is practically the same as in Fig. 2; the exception being that the segmental portion 18 of the plate 17 has been provided with differentiating characters 19 indicating ounces or pounds, while the indicator hand 20 is adjustably mounted upon a rocker member 28 pivoted at 21. A screw 29 is secured on said rocker member and engages a. resilient portion 30 of said hand and by rotating said screw said hand may be adjusted relatively to the resilient portion 12 of the U-shaped hook 8. The slot 16 has been made substantially longer than the slot 16 in Fig. 2 and is not intended to limit the deflection of the member 12. This permits the hand 20 to be adjusted to at all times register with the lowermost differentiating mark on the plate 17 when there is no weight suspended from the hook.

Having thus described my invention what I claim and desire by Letters Patent to secure is:

1. A device of the class described having, in combination, a support, a hook mounted on said support, said hook having an outwardly projecting relatively rigid portion and an inwardly projecting relatively resilient portion connected with said outwardly projecting portion at the outer end thereof, said relatively resilient portion having a depression formed therein, adjacent to the outer end thereof, adapted to position a weight, a plate mounted on said support, said plate having a slot therein adapted to receive the free end of said relatively resilient portion to limit the deflections thereof, said plate also having differentiating characters thereon, and a pivoted indicator hand adapted to register with said differentiating characters, said hand being operatively connected with the free end of saidrelatively resilient portion and constructed and arranged to be rocked upon its pivot by the deflection thereof.

2. A device of the class described having, in combination, a resilient member, having a fixed end and a movable end, said resilient member also having a depression formed therein, adjacent to its fixed end constructed and arranged to position a weight, the movable end of said resilient member being constructed and arranged to be deflected by the application of a predetermined weight thereto, and an indicator hand operatively connected with the movable end of said resilient member and adapted to indicate the deflection thereof.

3. A deviceof the class described having, in combination, a support, a hook mounted on said support, said hook having an outwardly projecting relatively rigid portion and an inwardly projecting relatively rcsilient portion connected with said outwardly projecting portion at the outer end thereof by a reversely bent portion, said relatively resilient portion having a depression formed therein adjacent the outer end thereof, a plate mounted on said support, said plate having a slot therein adapted to receive the free end of said relatively resilient portion and adapted to limit the deflections thereof, said plate also having differentiating characters thereon, an indicator hand pivotally mounted on said plate and adapted to register with said differentiating characters, said hand being operatively connected with the free end of said relatively resilient portion and to be rocked upon its pivot by the deflection thereof, and means to adjust said plate relatively to the aXis of said hand.

f. A device of the class described having, in combination, a support, a hook arranged substantially at right angles to said support, said hook including a. resilient member directed toward said support, the inner end of said resilient member being free, said resilient member also having a depression formed adjacent to its outer end constructed and arranged to position a weight, and a pivoted indicator hand arranged adjacent to said support adapted to engage the inner free end of said silient member.

5. A device of the class described having, in combination, a support, a hook mounted on said support substantially at right angles thereto, said hook including a relatively rigid portion and a relatively resilient por tion arranged substantially parallel with, in close proximity to and connected with said relatively rigid portion adjacent to its outer end said relatively resilient portion extending toward said support, the

inner end thereof being free, said relatively resilient portion having a depression formed therein adjacent to its outer end constructed and arranged to position a weight, and an indicator connected with the free end of said resilient portion constructed and arranged to be moved by the deflection thereof.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

AUSTIN B. COLETTE. Witnesses:

FRANKLIN E. Low, SYDNEY E. TAFT.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, G. 

